What on Earth is Going on? is a podcast for the curious, where small talk is banned and tangents are prized. Strap yourself in for genuine dialogues with people who think deeply and are ready to tackle the big questions, such as broadcaster Terry O'Reilly, economist Miles Corak and journalist Jessica Vomiero.

Glass ceilings are being shattered everywhere. Women now shape
the world in every field and discipline. The archetype of
leadership is less and less the old white male. But big problems
remain, whether it's big picture pay equity or the guy you know who
mansplains in budget meetings. What are the next steps?

Gustav Mahler once said that a symphony must be like the world,
in that it must contain everything. But when it comes to classical
music, is that 'container' (think of the pageantry, the dressing
up, the protocols of when to clap or cough) getting in the
way?

Is education the closest thing we have to a silver bullet for
the ills and ailments of our society, even if it takes generations
to have a real impact? What's the history of education and where
might we be headed? What are the forces that compete to shape our
schools, our students and our minds?

"Since the turn of the millennium, and particularly over the
last decade, no fewer than twenty-five democracies have failed
around the world, three of them in Europe (Russia, Turkey and
Hungary)... Can the West regain its optimism? If the answer is no –
and most of the portents are skewing the wrong way –...

On July 22 a lone gunman opened fire on pedestrians and crowded
restaurants on Danforth Avenue in the Greektown District of
Toronto. He killed two and wounded ten others before turning the
gun on himself. Three months earlier, just a subway ride away, a
man drove a rental van onto busy sidewalks, killing ten...

Categories

Archives

About the Podcast

Your weekly podcast for a world in flux.
Globalization and climate change. The rise of social media and the decline and fall of Blockbuster Video. AI and VR. Donald Trump and Flat Earthers. The world is changing so fast that we can't get a grip on how we got here, let alone where we're headed.
Join Ben Charland as he peels back the headlines to ask, what are the events, characters, forces and ideas that shape the human story today? Have things always been this nuts, or are they getting crazier by the day? Who were those barbarians that took down the Blockbuster Empire? Just what on Earth is going on?